It costs $150 to buy a dozen eggs in Venezuela right now

Being a charitable person I think I should start a project which will bring chickens to this part of Latin America. What’s that you say? Chickens are all over Latin America, everywhere one looks in the countryside? Then why do eggs cost more than $10 apiece in Venezuela? Oh, that’s right, the government is a socialist government that doesn’t understand the simplest of market economics. So that makes sense.

(From The LA Times)

The best deals are generally at government-run stores, such as Mercal and Bicentenario, where the prices are regulated.

To shop there, however, Linares said, she has to line up overnight. Even then, she might come home empty-handed if everything sells out before she gets to the front of the line — or if she is robbed leaving the store.

“The last time I bought food in a Mercal was three months ago,” she said. “They sold me one kilo [2.2 pounds] of rice, a kilo of pasta, a kilo of sugar and a liter of cooking oil for 1,540 bolivars. But to buy the basket of regulated products, I had to buy a watermelon for 400 bolivars. I didn’t want the watermelon and didn’t have the extra money to pay for it.”